Case Study of General Electric: From Jack Welch to Jeffrey Immelt

General Electric is one of the oldest conglomerates that are still actively present on the market. It consists of a wide variety of businesses and is involved in the production of a great multitude of items, resources, and services. The main segments of the company are focused on oil and gas production, renewable energy, aviation, additive manufacturing, lighting, healthcare, power generation, venture capital and finance, transportation, digital technologies, and lighting. General Electric is also involved in a variety of smaller enterprises which diversify its product line even further. The company was originally established in 1892 after Tomas Edison’s Electric Light Company and Thomas Houston Company were merged to create General Electric. The management of the company was focused on utilizing the numerous patents that Edison’s company held, especially those that were related to electricity generation and distribution. The company grew quickly by focusing on the adaptation of its technologies, a Continue reading

Reputation Risk – Meaning, Definition and Management

Reputation is an accumulation of perceptions and opinions about an organization that reside in the consciousness of its stakeholders. Reputation has becoming increasingly important to any company as the world becomes more complex. Tangible factors of business are becoming less significant and rapidly replaced by the intangible factors. Reputation is considered as the most valuable intangible asset. Though reputation is considered as an intangible asset which will not be presented in any balance sheet, it will represent the market value. Warren Buffet said: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” The hard-owned reputation is much more vulnerable in 21st century, as the globalization and development of technologically interconnection make news more easily transmitted and more transparent. Once reputation is compromised, it may be costly to rebuild reputation and the period may be extremely long. Continue reading

Case Study of Ford Company: Use of Innovation for Better Competition

Ford is one of the revered car brands in the global market. The Ford Motor Company has its headquarters in Dearborn, Detroit. Henry Ford founded the automobile company in 1903. The firm has become a leading manufacturer and marketer of automobiles around the globe. The firm is known for producing the Lincoln and Ford brands. Ford competes with different companies such as General Motors (GM), Volkswagen, Toyota, and Mercedes Benz. Throughout the years, Ford has been using powerful approaches to attract more customers and improve its sales. For instance, the introduction of the Ford Mustang in 1964 revolutionized the firm’s performance. Ford also introduced and marketed new vehicles in different parts of the globe. The success of the firm led to the acquisition of Aston Martin in 1990 and Jaguar Cars in 1994. However, the beginning of the 20th century was characterized by numerous challenges such as increased fuel prices Continue reading

Causes of Low Levels of Workplace Productivity

Organizations which have goals to achieve require happy and satisfied staff. Organizational climate serves as a measure of individual feelings and perceptions about an organization. Organizational climate includes leadership styles or management, participation in decision making, provision of challenging jobs to employees, personnel policies, reduction of boredom and frustration, provision of good working conditions, provision of benefits and creation of suitable career ladder for academics, In case there is some form of dissatisfaction. The organizational climate is viewed as characterized by the following factors: Unchallenging jobs, lack of recognition for work done well through merit or announcements in meetings, shortage of personnel where they are expected to perform responsibilities, which were supposed to be performed by other employees, lack of feedback about performance, poor communication where there is no two-way communication between subordinates and managers and lack of staff development activities which prevent personnel from being equipped with skill and Continue reading

Three Perspectives of Organizational Theory

Organizational theory is based on its three perspectives, which are the modern, symbolic-interpretive and the post-modern. The perspectives each have different approaches when it comes to the management of an organization. 1. Modern Perspective Modernists are objectivists who focus on reality of knowledge which is build based upon the conceptualization and the theorization. An Example would be that a company earns profits based on the CEO’s ability to make right decisions while investing the money of an organization. The results of the actions can be measured in profit and loss and can be directly measured. The data which modernists recognize are from the five senses, through what they see, heard, touch, smell and tasted. Modern Perspective builds a set of rules that can be used in organization so that all employees will be able to follow, perform and function, ensuring the entire process in the organization runs smoothly. Modernists do Continue reading

The Validity of Corporate Welfare Concept in Contemporary Times

Corporate welfare should not be accepted at the expense of the social welfare in a country. Many western countries accept corporate welfare but reject social welfare based on economic development. They argue that the corporate enhances economic progress while the social promotes too much dependence that drags the economy. For instance, a poor mother and her daughter are said not to contribute anything to the productivity of the economy. Being capitalists and advocates of individualism, the countries fail to take seriously the support of the helpless and marginalized. However, corporate welfare is not a guarantee of a country’s success due to the following reasons. Firstly, welfare is inhuman and causes imbalance and instability in different institutions. The poor and minority groups in the society are robbed of the little wealth they possess to be transferred to the richer. The wealthy in society continue to accumulate more wealth while the lower-income Continue reading